Better than I thought

I know a lot of people have mentioned this before, but it almost seems like it’s just a passing joke. But I truly believe that a portion of the Switch’s success is due to it not having loot boxes or microtransactions or basically any of the horrible practises that have infected the PlayStation and Xbox. I don’t particularly blame Sony or Microsoft for those, although they could’ve stopped them, but playing on the Switch is such a breath of fresh air.

You turn it on and it the interface is super simple, it isn’t trying to be your smartphone, it just wants to let you play games. And those games just want to be games, not some piece of farm machinery that attaches itself to your bank account and milks you for all you’ve got.

This year we’ve had career highs for Zelda, Mario, Mario Kart, and Splatoon. New IP like ARMS and Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle, and a ton of great third party and indie releases like Doom, Skyrim, Rocket League, SteamWorld Dig 2, Overcooked, Snipperclips, Love In A Dangerous Spacetime… just a great line-up.

It’s a console I can take to my parents and find something for them to enjoy (they love Snipperclips) as well as my friends, my sister and her niece… I have not found anyone that does not love the Switch and ends ever session with, ‘It’s better than I thought’. Not only have we told EA where to go with Battlefront II but we’ve reward the companies that do things right and that makes me feel very optimistic about the future of the games industry.Austin

Unlearnt lessons

I really don’t think Battlefront II is going to have its progression system completely redone. Even ignoring how much time and money that would take, how is everyone that plays it in the meantime going to feel about that? Their progress will almost certainly be wiped out, and there’s no obvious way for EA to compensate them since presumably the new system would all be based on skill.

The only three options I see is to either keep microtransactions out (which they’ve already said they’re not going to do), bring them back in but just not as unfair as before, or try to make them cosmetic-only (which seems like far too much work). The game is doomed as far as I’m concerned and I’m not going anywhere near it unless option one happens.

Like others have said, I just hope this is a warning to others. Greed has its limits and customers will punish you for it. EA should’ve learnt that lesson from Microsoft and the Xbox One, but somehow I doubt anyone’s going to learn it from EA.Goldy

Quality service

Look at all the new free content that’s just been announced for Splatoon 2. EA would charge you at least £20 for all that! ARMS and Splatoon have had great support from Nintendo since release.

Also, I don’t think the third party games are doing too bad on the Switch, at least in the eShop chart. Doom has been in the top downloads since release, currently at number five. None of the top three downloads are Nintendo games, all selling more than Super Mario Odyssey in the last two weeks.Roger Magician

GC: It’s worth pointing out that technically that qualifies ARMS and Splatoon as games as a service. The term isn’t a euphemism for loot boxes and microtransactions, it just means the game is supported with new content for a long time after launch.

All three seem to have gotten pretty good reviews elsewhere and I’m quite interested, but we all know that means nothing unless they get the GC seal of approval…Anon
Currently playing: anything on the little slab of greatness that is the Nintendo Switch!

GC: That’s good of you to say. We’re just finishing up all last week’s games, so we should have the chance after that to fit in some reviews we’ve missed. If anyone else has any other requests from within the last two months we’ll see what we can do.

Doomed to discount

Just looking at the early Black Friday deals for PS Plus members and had to do a double take when I saw Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus for £25 and the digital deluxe edition, which includes all DLC, for £32.50. I just paid £38 for a physical copy minus DLC.

I’m interested to see if it’s included when the sales is open to all. I long ago decided I wanted to see the Instant Game Collection replaced with large discounts on games for PS Plus members and this deal was the sort of thing I had in mind.

I do worry though that its inclusion in the sale was a last minute thing, as it’s struggling.Simundo Jones

The other Dave Perry

My eyebrows did an involuntary raising at ‘1997 classic MDK’. I recall it being overhyped and underwhelming? Or maybe that’s because I only read one magazine at the time and there was not really the Internet yet. I never played it.Matt A
PS: It took me until older than I’m secure enough to admit to realise that the Dave Perry who made all these games in the 90s was not the guy in the bandana off of GamesMaster.

GC: We think MDK has a fairly solid status as a minor classic. It’s certainly a flawed game, but it was an important technical milestone and very ambitious for its time.

Unrealistic graphics

I wish Nintendo made a game in VR. With the limited graphical potential of current headsets, it seems silly to develop ‘realistic’ graphic type games at this stage.

Nintendo’s simple but charming graphics style is what we need at this stage.Raj

GC: They have shown some interest in the tech, but the Switch is certainly not powerful enough to use a headset.

The right price

Long-time reader but first time writer.

Like a number of your readers I’m a massive fan of PlayStation VR. Resident Evil 7 was one of the best gaming experiences I have ever had (and I’m an oldie!), it kickstarted what has been an interesting year with a steady stream of weekly releases, as with all platforms some amazing, some truly bad, and plenty in-between. It was encouraging to hear Sony report sales of 1.5m units in year one, amazing for an add-on that costs £350 minimum, £450 if you needed camera and controllers, etc.

Recently Sony have been giving PlayStation VR a push as it enters its second year. They pledged their commitment to the format and gave us a number of new announcements at Paris Games Week and Tokyo Game Show. They announced an updated hardware model with small, yet important, changes (available in Japan and USA now, UK when they remember us), Skyrim VR and Final Fantasy XV have just landed, as has GT Sport (OK, best we forget that one), and Doom VFR a couple of weeks away and then the new Resident Evil 7 DLC.

An already impressive start to year two, then last Friday Sony launches its Black Friday deal, a PlayStation VR, camera, PlayStation VR Worlds, and Skyrim (or GT Sport) for £250. If you discount the cost of the games then that’s the PlayStation VR hardware for only £170. The news reported that PlayStation VR was the best-selling item on Amazon UK over the weekend. Think about that for a moment, they sold more PlayStation VR hardware than they did copies of Call Of Duty: WWII, FIFA 18, Mario, Pokémon or any other non-game item on the whole site. At the right price people will buy into VR!

If you don’t have a PlayStation 4 that’s OK, Sony’s Black Friday deal on PS4 Pro is £300 with FIFA and Call Of Duty: WWII, discount the games and you’re getting a PS4 Pro for £200.

So the complete hardware package of PS4 Pro and PlayStation VR for £370. Wow…!

This puts Sony in an enviable position, how will the other two respond?

Nintendo have announced that they will not be discounting Switch on Black Friday. They don’t need to, as they seem to be bulletproof at the moment. Although some retailers will surely offer bundle deals.

Microsoft really need to do something significant. It was genuinely sad to see a mint (sealed) Xbox One X Project Scorpio Edition in GAME on Sunday for £410, unsold for a week. Microsoft are no doubt planning their response, it will need to be massive to stop them looking like an also-ran.

Let battle commence… it’s a good time to be a gamer!BWW FOUR (PSN ID)

Inbox also-rans

Is it possible that Amazon are in some way helping sponsor games to include loot boxes?Matt Kirk

GC: What do you mean ‘sponsor’? And why would Amazon care whether they have loot boxes or not?

I’m genuinely shocked to say that I actually enjoyed Justice League. I read some awful reviews but I’m happy to admit Zack Snyder was on form. It may not have been as good as Wonder Woman but I recommend it.Ste C

GC: We suspect it was watchability is probably in spite of Synder rather than because of him.

This week’s Hot Topic

The subject for this weekend’s Inbox was inspired by reader billystanley71, who asks what’s the most difficult story-based decision you’ve ever had to make in a game?

Games like The Walking Dead and Mass Effect popularised moral decision-making in games and now they can be found in all sorts of different titles, from Life Is Strange to Wolfenstein. But which have you found to be the toughest and why? Did you stick with your decision or go back and try and change it?

Do the decisions you make in games generally follow your real-life sense of morality, or do you play a character – perhaps one that is the opposite to your real self? What’s been the most significant consequences of a decision, and how did you feel when you realised what you’d done?